Federico Garcia Lorca

Poet / Playwright

Born: 5 June 1898

Died: 19 August 1936 (?)

Birthplace: Fuente Vaqueros, Granada, Spain

Best known as: Spanish dramatist/poet who wrote Poet in New York

Federico Garcia Lorca was one of the most critically acclaimed Spanish poets of the 20th century, famous not only for his poems and plays, but also as an early martyr of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). His reputation as a poet was secured in the 1920s with the publication of Libra de Poemas (1921) and Primer Romancero Gitano (1928). In the 1930s, after a brief time in the United States and Cuba, he gained even more recognition for his plays, especially what has been called his "earth trilogy" (or "rural trilogy"), Bodas de Sangre (1933, Blood Wedding), Yerma (1934) and Le Casa de Bernarda Alba (1936, The House of Bernarda Alba). Shortly after he finished the last of the trilogy, he was arrested by nationalists who supported General Francisco Franco and executed without a trial. Although his work was not overtly political, Lorca had incurred the wrath of the fascist Escuadra Negra ("Black Squadron") because of his leftist leanings and, apparently, his homosexuality. Lorca was buried in a mass grave, believed to be near the village of Barranco de Viznar, in Granada, and his works remained officially banned in Spain until 1971. In 2003 it was announced that his body would be exhumed and reburied. His other works include the poems Llanto por Ignacio Sanchez Mejias and Poet in New York, and the plays Mariana Pineda (performed with a set designed by Salvador Dali), Asi Que Pasen Cinco Años and El Publico.